BU Undergraduate students present at national conference

Four BU students were recently selected to present their research at the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR), hosted by the University of Glasgow.

The BCUR is the largest conference in the UK exclusively dedicated to showcasing and celebrating undergraduate research. It offers students from all disciplines from engineering prototypes to psychology experiments, digital humanities projects to environmental field studies, a unique platform to present their work, whether it’s a dissertation, a research project, an internship or even an insightful end-of-term essay.

Faten Alahmadi is a BA (Hons) Event Management student and her research explores how personalised peer-to-peer interactions at higher education recruitment events may influence prospective students’ decision-making.

She was joined at the conference by Atanas Burmov, who presented research on high-resolution air quality monitoring using distributed low-cost sensors, showcasing real-world testing of innovative environmental sensing technology designed to support more localised and accessible responses to air pollution. Atanas is a BSc (Hons) Cyber Security with Digital Forensics student.

BSc (Hons) Psychology student, Valeria Cojocaru, discussed her dissertation research, Emotion Proportion Judgement in Multiple Faces: an ERP study, which explores how people perceive emotional expressions across multiple faces using neuroscience methods.

Mikayla Frith, who is studying BSc (Hons) Psychology with Forensic Investigation, presented research on how language complexity in expert reports can influence juror comprehension and perceived credibility, highlighting the importance of clear communication in forensic and legal contexts.

The students reflected on their experience, saying: “Presenting our work at the British Conference of Undergraduate Research was a significant milestone, helping to strengthen our confidence as undergraduate researchers and giving us the opportunity to share our work in a wider academic setting.” Faten added: “I also really valued the chance to engage with such a wide range of subjects and to connect with students and academics from different disciplines, which broadened my perspective and strengthened my motivation for future research.”

Dr. Payam Ansari, Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Events Management course, expressed his delight at the students’ success and commented: “Being chosen to present research at the conference with the opportunity to receive feedback and engage in academic discussion is an amazing opportunity, and one which demonstrates the strength of the students’ research.”